Thank you for your commitment to pray for our family. We can’t survive with the strength of the Lord. Would you like to receive our Prayer & Praise newsletter that we send out every few days? Subscribe below by filling in the form (in the middle column of the bottom of the page).
- Getting our residency paperwork in order
We are still trying to get our residency paperwork from and to the right people. It’s essential that we get this done soon. Here are the specifics of what we are waiting on:
• our lawyer to stay in town long enough to get some things done
• if we have to leave the country again and get new visas, we need God to provide for that
• UPDATE: We should receive our PERMANENT RESIDENCY status at the end of March 2013. That means we will have all the rights of citizens except voting and holding public office. It allows us to live here as long as we want and we can come and go whenever we want.
- Provision for housing and for monthly/yearly support and for webdesign business
God knows the large amount of money we need to secure our housing. He also knows how much we need for our daily/monthly expenses. Further, we know that He knows how much I can do with my business and balance it with ministry and family. That being said, we are trusting Him to speak to the right people about helping with those needs. We know what we THINK we need to survive, be we KNOW that God knows what we need and we are simply trusting Him to provide it through whatever means He chooses. We trust Him because He is trustworthy. Completely.
UPDATE March 2013: It has been so much more expensive to live here than we ever thought it would. But still…we are trusting the Lord to provide. We still need a very large amount of money for housing.
- Life in Ukraine We can’t begin to think of all the challenges that we will experience here, but again, we KNOW the ONE Who DOES. And we are trusting Him. We will meet the challenges head on with the grace and the mercy that He will supply each day. We want to be careful not to start worrying about tomorrow yet. After all, He hasn’t given us the grace and mercy to deal with it yet.I love the book, “The Hiding Place,” by Corrie Ten Boom. She talks about when she told her father that she was afraid of dying. In response, he asked her, “When we go to Amsterdam, when do I give you your ticket for the train?” She replies, “You hand it to me just before we get on.” He tells her that God is the same way. “When it’s time for you to die,” he says, “God will give you the grace you need at just the right moment when you need it.”We haven’t fooled ourselves into thinking that it’s going to be rosy and easy. It’s not. But we refuse to get in the mire of worrying about that which we can’t control and are not yet equipped to handle. He will equip us when we need it. Not before. So it will profit us NOTHING to worry now. We will plan as best we can and walk in faith that He knows and has the full plan already written out. Psalm 139 tells us that every day is written in His book before one of them comes to be. We believe that..
- Ministry
Ministry to families with children with special needs.
Church here in Peremoga (meets in our building).
Ministry to orphans – just beginning…
Ministry in Western Ukraine – discipleship conferences.
Ministry to adopting families.
Sharing the Gospel with the people the Lord brings into our lives at all times.
- God would grow Chris’ web design business as a means of meeting our needs[ad300]
We would like to work toward being financially independent in the next year or so. So M11 Design was born as a way to make that possible. Chris will be using the creative gifts that God has granted him and his technical skills to generate income for the daily family needs (food, clothes, housing, etc). We hope that in the next year or two, all the money raised for support will be used for MINISTRY ENDEAVORS and not living expenses.
Update March 2013: This is going well. But probably we will need to gain more value for the time spent. So we are thinking and praying through how to make that happen.
- That God would help us to keep our eyes on Him and on His calling for our lives, amid the overwhelming process, and that we would be a reflection of Christ in all that we do
Above all, we want people to see our Savior through our lives (including this particular journey). We want others to see what God has done for us and desire a relationship with Him, too. We are so far from perfect, yet, for some reason God desires to use our obedience to carry out a part of His plan. We’re grateful for that…and a little nervous, too.
We thank you for your prayers, support and encouraging words.